Untamed
by UmbraPerfide
Summary: After the world has been devastated by an event that no one could have foreseen nor prevented. Every organism on the on the face of the Planet experienced drastic change. This story follows Perfide as he suffers and overcomes. untamedworks./ new chapter every two days. comments and critique are welcome Thanks in advance for reading
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 _ **The encounter**_

Darkness, seemingly infinite pitch black nothingness.

So dark it was that he couldn't even see his own hand when it covered his face. He screamed… but then he was confused because he couldn't even hear his own voice. It was as if the nothingness was not allowing even the barest hint of life to reach him.

How long was he there? He has no idea he simply feels that this empty existence is better than where he was. Realizing his own thoughts he understands that he was somewhere else first.

So then why is he here? In his confused state he believes that he starts to hear something. It was faint yet at the same time so loud, it was as if it were right there in front of him. He was ecstatic, the first new thing to happen in what seemed to be years of nothing. So he focuses, trying to draw it closer with the simple act of paying attention.

It seemed to be working because he could hear something now. It was faint but its existence was now unquestionable. It was a very soft and very quiet oom. There it was again another oom but this time he could make out another one right behind it. More and more and so many oom's came together to create this horrid cacophony of noise.

As it got clearer the unexpected happened and he started feeling something with each oom. It was something he didn't something which he knew a lot about yet couldn't name. With more oom's came more of that sensation. The closer he got to figuring out exactly what it was that he was feeling. Then came a particularly loud oom but wait he though this one was more of a BOOM,

"hahahaha yes" he laughed in jubilation at his own discovery. But the joy didn't last for long, because with that boom came more of that weird feeling. This time though it was strong, really strong and he finally realized what it was. It was pain, his closes friend, his only friend really…

With that discovery, every time the Booms became more and more pronounced and clear, the pain that came with each one became worse. So bad did it become that he tried to run away. He tried to run but it was far too late and he was drawing closer and closer

He could finally hear his own voice now. Something that would have brought him joy if he wasn't screaming in pain. There's a light now up ahead, where it came from he doesn't know. All he can tell is that the light, the pain, and the BOOM's are coming from the same place, a place he no longer wishes to go, so again he tries to struggle to push himself away from that pain, to do just about anything except to go towards it.

But he fails, so sad but the inevitable is slowly approaching.

"Hey guys I think the trash is waking," says an unknown person.

" _Trash? Who are they calling trash?"_ he asks himself.

"C'mon" trashy, isn't this fun _._ Said another voice followed by more pain

For some reason he starts feeling water coming down where his face should be

"Awe, Mark, look crying trash, HAHA, who knew trash could cry" said another voice

"… _So that's me? I'm crying? Wait does that mean that I'm the trash their talking about?"_ He thought.

"Yeah Lou, maybe we should tell someone, we'd probably get an award. HAHAGHYAAA." Suddenly one of the voices cries out in pain in an odd voice, like a cat and chicken being skinned alive at the same time, it the one called mark. He hears another voice now a voice obviously an old man, crying out; "Hey you stink'n brats, what do you think you're doing"

"HAHA, elder Umbra we were simply exchanging pointers and got a little caught up in the " said mark while rubbing his sore forearm, that Is already purple from where it was hit by the rock thrown by the old elder. While sweat runs down his back.

With his eyes now open, through his own tears the boy could now see the old man. The most shocking thing was that he was missing a leg and was leaning on a cane. His leg was gone along with half his thigh. He was bent over that cane to the point of almost looking right at it. He also had an old set of clothes, so old and filthy were his rags that if any would pass by him at any time they would feel see him as a beggar. In fact if you considered him one you wouldn't be entirely wrong, because he did nothing except, abuse the kindness of the city. At times he would skin some animal to make clothes but that too he got from the city. So yes a beggar in all but name.

Upon hearing mark and his two friends respond with such words, elder Umbra could not help but scoff disdainfully at them. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do.

"Go back to your parents you poorly weened brats." Said elder Umbra while waving his fist at them like a crazy man with spittle flying out of his mouth, eyes blood shot.

When the ones who were just now beating on the now conscious boy saw this, they felt their young hearts tremble and could only run away with one thought going through their heads "crazy, too crazy".

"Perfide", called out the elder, "get up now it's not that bad, nothing some rest won't fix."

Hearing this and seeing the face of the old man looking directly at him saying his name and telling him to get up, he started to remember everything that happened before he found himself waking up on the ground being beaten. He remembered leaving his family's home, in the slums, in search of today's food. He remembers going to his secret spot where he kept his makeshift knife and the thick stick he calls a spear. He remembers managing to actually find a Derolf lying on the ground with a broken leg. He remembers crying while he killed it, all the while apologizing for taking its life, mumbling "I'm sorry, so sorry". He remembers the doing what he had watched the hunters do to Derolf's when they catch them and managing not to throw up. He remembers dragging looking up at the sky seeing it getting dark and using all of his bags and even his own shirt to drag back the Derolf meat, pelt and anything else he could sell.

He remembers seeing the source of his nightmares coming from far away looking for him. The one in the lead as always was Mark, though he and Perfide were both 8 years old, they were complete opposites. While mark was slightly short and very pudgy for his age, his two friends were simply average. But Perfide stood taller than them all by at least 3 inches at 55 inches tall. This caused him to stand out and receive all of marks animosity.

Still, Perfide remembered seeing them and knowing what was to come, and in order to protect the Derolf meat, hiding it in bushes then running away.

"The Meat" exclaimed Perfide, as he suddenly remembered that without it his family wouldn't be able to eat today. That intense worry over his family's well being cleared his haze filled mind, and gave him the determination to pick his bruised and battered body of the ground.

But before he goes off to find the meat he hid, he turns to elder Umbra and says, "thank you elder, for saving me" he continues saying, "I would stay but I have to quickly get back home to my family, good bye elder."

Before he could go, the elder stops him and asks him why he didn't fight back and why did he simply lay there and take it?

To which Perfide responds, "I used to do it, fight back I mean, I used to try when they came, but it didn't do me any good" Perfide laughs very self depreciatingly and says, "they only hit me more when I hit them back, so if I don't fight back it's not so bad, today was just not a good day."

Again he tries to leave but once more the elder stops him when he says, "Before you run off like an idiot, will let me give you some advice? Or are you too arrogant to listen to an old man?"

Suddenly the atmosphere which was normal and tranquil, has become oppressive and constricting. Perfide felt as if by attempting to walk away from the old man's advice that heaven has decided to punish him. And his heart shook. So terribly did it shake in fear that he promptly fell to his knees in supplication to the elder before him in the hope of staving off the anger of heave.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

 _ **Awakening**_

In his direct line of sight he could see small animals falling to the ground, and twitching with foam emanating from their moth. He could see the plants once green and lush, withering and shrinking as if to return to the earth to hide. The tall trees which stood erect were leaning ever in any other direction, except where elder Umbra stood, as if some great force was coming off of the elder as he stood there bent over his cane as if he were an insignificant being. Incredible, the elder was completely unaffected, to Perfide's young mind this was simply crazy, far too crazy to be safe. One thing he knew was that the previously unassuming elder has something to do with this impossibility, and that whoever could move the force of heaven this way should receive his utmost respect His six year old heart for the first time felt true fear. The beatings and misfortunes the pains that he had experienced, compared to this oppressive power, they were nothing at all. This difference between the two, Perfide thought, is as far as the earth is from heaven. Untouchable.

"Please forgive this young one elder Umbra. I hope this one's foolish actions have not caused esteemed elder to become angry and to not want to give this one his wise teaching." Said Perfide

That pressure didn't get any weaker, in fact it was slowly getting stronger, and more animals were falling over, foaming at the mouth. Those that had already fallen spat out a large amount of blood and died at the sudden increase in the pressure.

Feeling the pressure increase, Perfide could not help but have the shaking of his heart increase. The fear he felt skyrocketed, but now he was also confused and starting thinking, "Is the elder trying to kill me? But I apologized, I said I was sorry. So why, why is this happening?"

In his desperation he cried once more to the elder, begging him, "Please elder, please. I'm sorry this one had eyes but could not see the majesty of what stood be….

Before he could even finish speaking elder Umbra frowned in obvious displeasure and once more that mysterious heavenly pressure increased to the point that the creatures which had first fallen were exploding, the plants in a very wide range were now completely withered, the grass has now disappeared leaving only soil, dirt and the ever resilient weed.

With the increase in pressure Perfide found himself lying on the ground, unable to move his limb. Tears were now pouring from his eyes, his nose was now releasing a torrent of snot and liquids. All he could do was think, "this is it I'm really about to die. This crazy elder is really going to kill me. But why what did I do, I begged him and apologized. Why? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? JUST WHY?

As these thoughts keep going through his mind, he is till managing to beg the elder. Unfortunately this did not work and had the effect he was not wanting, a fact made plainly visible by the deep from on elder Umbra's face. Even though he was frowning the look in his eyes was that of a desperate man. Somehow this desperation had a depth greater than that of even Perfide's who saw his life on the line. Just what exactly is happening?

Buy still, the pressure once more increase. There were no more living beings in a wide area around the elder and those that could feel it had already run far away. With this fourth increase in the pressure Perfide could no longer move his mouth to beg. He could only mentally scream out in his mind at the elder in rage. Rage at this impossible injustice which was currently happening to him, rage at the fact that this man who previously saved him was going to now end his life after giving him hope. Oh, so much rage, but yet there was something else mixed in with the rage. It was determination, an untamable will.

Seeing the new light coming in the boy's eyes the frown on his face disappeared, the desperation on his eyes started being pushed out by hope.

Perfide could only fight his way up using that determination. Using every drop of his will that he could must Perfide started to resist.

He locked his jaw, grating his teeth together so tightly that multiple teeth lost large chunks. Blood flowed freely from his mouth. But still he pushed.

Now he could lift up his head to look the elder directly in the face. Seeing the passive seemingly uncaring look on elder Umbra's face, he was shocked, shocked at the audacity of the man to bring him into this position and to not even care. "How dare he, What right does he have", thought Perfide.

Perfide became even more determined to show that elder that he didn't need him, that he could rise on his own. And so he pushed again, pushed off the floor, against that unearthly pressure, and now he was on his hands and knees. With his clothes and face now stained with the dirt from his earlier beating and now the blood which is flowing from his eyes mouth and nose, Perfide remained determined to stand up. So still he pushed against it all. Against the pressure and against his own body which was screaming at him, telling to stop that he couldn't do it, that he shouldn't even try.

While almost on his feet something snapped and Perfide lost consciousness and fell to the ground. The old elder, with worry and eyes brimming with hope ran to his side so quickly that anyone who was watching would have thought that there were two of him. But no he was simply that inconceivable fast.

When he reached to boy's side he placed his hands on his chest a green light began to emanate from his hands. A light so soothing, and so powerful that even the area around them was quickly regaining its floral life. While the elder's hands were on Perfide's chest the blood stopped flowing and his mouth was visibly healed. The bruising from before? Gone!

During this scene, which Perfide did not get a chance to see because he had returned to that dark place once more, but this time he saw something? Rather than see it, he felt it. No calling the ball shaped mist an it would be wrong, entirely wrong. He felt himself, yes. That mist gave him a feeling of peace and harmony, soothing his every ache and pain and clearing his mind of that earlier blind rage. It was so soothing that if he knew what was being done to him by that old man he would have thought that even that healing could not hold a candle to the inferno of power emanating from that mist.

Whether guided by instinct or some other force he reached out, with what he could not tell you you. But, he felt himself drawing closer so he knew that it was working, so he continued to reach. Drawing himself ever closer to something remarkable. Till after an uncountable amount of time passed he finally reached the point where he could touch it. So with child-like curiosity he did.

The moment he reached out his hand to touch it, he didn't feel anything. Rather he went through it. The moment that first part of him went through that barrier, he felt a suction completely unlike anything he has ever felt. Knowing that there was nothing to prevent himself from being sucked in, not like he wanted to stop it any way, Perfide gave into the force that was pulling him in. He was rapidly approaching something at the center of it. It looked like a five pointed star which he was taught how to draw by his mother. But this was different

The star itself had five colors, from left to right there was white. The white which gave off a feeling similar to what the old elder was doing, was very bright. To the right of that was a grey that seemed to be forever moving and unstoppable, even though it was a darker color it somehow felt equally as bright to Perfide. The third one, was a yellow with snake like coils running seemingly with a mind of its own. The fourth was an earthly brown that brought with it, an unimaginable feeling of security and safety. The last one was of a black so dark that it would make pitch seem bright, this one felt deep. It gave of a deepness to the boy that he felt it was eternal in its magnitude. There was something else though. At the center of that five colored pentagram, was an egg. With each moment that passed, the draw he felt towards that egg increased, to the point where he could no longer hold himself back and ended up going up to the egg and touching it.

The moment he came into contact with the egg a crack appeared on it, then another and another followed by millions of tiny cracks, as every crack appeared the colors on pentagram became more and more pronounced.

Then finally the shell disintegrated and Perfide finally managed to see what was inside. What lay where asleep where the egg used to be was an animal never before seen on earth, but its description was passed down by their ancestors as legends and myths, but there it is. A creature supposedly capable of destroying all existence unmatched in every aspect except by its own kind. Its body was the color of multiple shades of blue. From the bumpy bone like protrusions coming out of its scaly back to the membrane like wings, to the horns on its head. All of these caused the obviously young dragon to give of a feeling of power and majesty that could dwarf the combined power of all life. But yet it slept in this mysterious space.

At the same time that Perfide had touched the egg the ends of the pentagram detached and formed five balls that were the exact same shape and size as that original mist like ball that Perfide had seen. The only difference that could be found lay in their color and in the feeling that each one gave off. While Perfide was watching the dragon he reached out towards but before he could actually touch it he knew that he was not yet ready. And a voice radiated in his head saying, "No we are not ready yet"

This shocked Perfide to the point that all he could do was ask out loud and in confusion, "Who are you?"

To which the voice once more spoke, this time it replies, "I am you and you are me, together we are we"

This only served to confuse Perfide even more, seemingly knowing that it was just confusing Perfide, the voice once more spoke saying, "Not yet, but soon. Soon all of your questions will be answered but we are not ready yet."

Out of nowhere a white light appeared above him drawing him away from the dragon. The voice that was getting progressively further and further away said, "Do not worry you will return again when the time is right, but for now you must return. Remember this before you go do not trust the th..."

During the time that all of this occurred, from going through the barrier to receiving that voices partial warning, Perfide had been unconscious for less than a minute.

As he awoke the last words of the elder reverberated through his head, "do not trust the th…, the what? What am I not meant to trust?" unfortunately the voice was gone and Perfide would not hear it again for a long time.

Seeing the old man still standing above him, Perfide gets up quickly and tries to run. This time the pressure stops him and the old man says, "wait child, I mean you no harm. Do you truly not understand why I did what I just did to you?"

Confused Perfide could only lean his head to the right, scratch his head, shrug his shoulder, and look at the elder with confusion and say, "Because you're crazy," with a childlike fearlessness.

Elder Umbra shocked to hear these words from someone who was a few moments ago shaking in fear could only laugh and shake his head.

The elder then said, "No it was simply to remind you of something important and to give you the advice that you had asked for earlier. Determination is one of the single most important principles. If you exist but have no determination, no will, to do as you see fit, you will slowly be tamed by this society in which we live, and you will only be part of the masses that do as they are told. Stepped on when their master please, ridiculed for not reason but to alleviate the boredom of their betters. Used and abused for the same reason. Was that what you planned to be boy?"

Now Perfide understood that though painful, this lesson was unmeasurably beneficial to him. And vowed to never forget it.

The elder seeing the shock and recognition written on Perfide's face smiled a soft smile and said to Perfide, "Go on boy, you have things to go do don't you"

"You're right, elder Umbra, thank you. I have to go now"

After saying this he quickly runs off into the woods to his precious meat. If he had been in less of a hurry and turned back to the elder he would have seen the old man straighten his back, twirling the cane in hand, look at him with a sad yet hopeful smile on his face. He especially would have seen a man and a woman jump out of a tree to land beside the elder.

If he had been slower and his hearing better he would have heard the man ask the elder, "is it really him, the one whom you've chosen? I just don't see it, the boy doesn't even try to fight back until pushed to the very limit, how can it really be him?"

The elder simply smiles and says, "I understand your concerns, but the boy started fighting back again. If he stays this way then, and only then, will I truly accept him. If things are to work out how we plan for, then that person has to not only be the one born on that day at that exact time, but also strong willed. If it's not him though we'll have to wait for it to happen all over again and find the next person. Something none of us can afford to do."

Elder Umbra sighs, that sigh seems to sadden the entire surrounding forest. The old man started reminiscing on times long passed and his eyes start to moisten, if one looked closely enough you could have seen a bead forming on the corner of his eyes. As if waking from waking from a dream elder Umbra blinks away the tear, turns around, bends his back into that low rounded shape, and continues on his way. The man and women seeing this can only feel their hearts shake at the profound measure of his pain. They looked at each other, then they follow him. However the woman turns back to look watch the boy walking away and releases her own depressed sigh. Then leaves without ever utter a single word as if to maintain that quiet scene.

All of this remains forever unknown to the battered boy who has only one thing on his mind. Finding his food and getting home. So that's what he did.

Perfide, followed his own trail back the spot where he first spotted the trio of bullies and retrieved his hastily hidden precious food. Dragging the hundred pounds worth of meat home, while weighing less than that himself, is something that he, in his excitement, did not take in to account. But with the image in his mind of him and is family sitting down to a full meal, and selling enough of the pelt and horns to actually buy better clothes than what they currently had.

This image brought him an insane amount of determination. Pulling from this new pool of energy, Perfide continued on his way home. He stumbled and fell but still he continued. He continued till he reached that heavily travelled road, continued till he saw the gates to the city, of Clartsmount in front of him.

Instead of going through them he instead turned to the right. Because his family was poor they were not allowed to live within the safety of the primary defenses where the rich and important live. Though they were not completely heartless they created a less powerful defense some miles out which prevented the strong beasts from passing. The only beasts that passed were the ones too dumb and weak to understand or too strong to even care.

As Perfide cut through this part of town he had to repeatedly hide between homes, in alley ways, in trash. Just to avoid both the corrupt guards and the criminals who own the Outer City. Finally he make makes it to his family's home. As he reaches for the door knob a shadow covers the doorway and hand falls upon his shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

 _ **The Troubles**_

Chapter 3

 ** _The Troubles_**

"GHYAAAAA, rapist, rapist, someone help it's a rapist, he's trying to steel my innocence. Someone help me, I've been a good boy" screamed Perfide when that mysterious hand fell on his shoulder. As people going about their business hear that someone is trying to rape a young boy they quickly form a lynch mob and come running. When they arrived near where the scream came from all they saw were a pair of boy's sandals. Some in begin to cry, thinking that they were too late and that the poor child has been taken by some perverted kidnapper.

"Bhaa" says an old man as he spits on the floor, "It was probably some fool boys joke."

Hearing the old man's words some in the crowd begin to nod their heads and start to turn away, but then someone recognizes the she which was found. That man quickly runs and takes a look at the shoe, remembers who he usually sees wearing it yells to the crowd, "Wait, this shoe is Perfide's"

"Oh c'mon how can you possibly tell one shoe from the other, don't tell me you were always secretly a shoe fanatic as well as a black smith. Did you hear that folks, Lars here is also a shoe expert." Said someone in the crowd. Hearing this most of the crowd started laughing at an obviously embarrassed Lars. But when Lars next speaks, these words get them thinking.

"Shut up, you fool, this is the shoe Perfide is always wearing, whenever you see him, he's always wearing this shoe. Just think you idiots, think back to all the times you've seen him." Said Lars. And everyone did think about all of the times that they saw Perfide. Those who knew him best or saw him more often were able to quickly see the truth, that the single dirty shoe in Lars's hand was in fact Perfide's.

Now people began to grow worried. Perfide happened to be one of the few boys in the Outer City that could still be considered good. Unlike all of the other children who were only focused on their own fun and games, Perfide was kind. He, even though he was so young was able to truly see the harsh reality of their lives, he was the one of his generation willing to not only help their parents. He would not only go and gather herbs and food in the forest, he would sometimes even bring back meat and pelt that they would sell. He would even go so far as to give some away to those who seemed to need it. So of course they couldn't help but grow angry at the thought of such a good child being taken and having, unknown atrocities done to him.

With the vision of his smile in their minds, the crowd started getting louder some even going so far as to yell out profanities toward to person at fault. As the crowd was getting ready to start going over every inch of The Outer City, they were stopped by an aged voice that yelled, "Wait".

"Cough, cough, cough….." over again that voice coughed. It was absolutely gut wrenching. It was a cough that was at the same time both overly wet and pitifully dry. As if he were repeatedly being tossed in the sea to drown then deprived of all water. Suffice to say that cough did more to get people's attention then his words did. The owner of the voice knew that this was the situation, and even though on the outside it seemed that he was going through pains that could rival child birth, and would at any moment spit up one or even both of his lungs, inwardly things were different. The old man was actually laughing! He was actually praising himself in the third person saying, "HOHOHOHO you genius old man, the Wet Ocean Dry Desert technique I developed is still untouchable. These stupid youngsters can't even compare to your greatness old man"

Noticing that he was leaking out some of his inner thoughts onto his face, the old man intensified his coughing, causing people to almost weep in pity.

After a long, excruciating minute, the torture was finally over. The old man cried out to the crowd, "Calm Down everyone. Before we start turning over stones and destroying the entire Outer City, let's look at what's in front of us."

Confused at what someone Slempt, a woodworker, yelled out, "what the hell are you talking about Henry, the only important thing in front of us is a shoe."

"Show proper respect for your magnificent elder. You hear me boy!" replied old man Henry

"Respect!? You cannot be serious old man, what exactly about you is it that I should be respecting? The only thing I see is a corpse that can't seem to find its grave!" retorted Slempt

"Who the hell are you calling a corpse without a grave you damn brat." Screamed old man Henry in fury.

"The only thing around here that doesn't even look human you de…" replied Slempt. Whatever he was going to say was rather painfully cut short when Lars used Perfide's sandal to slap him on the back.

"Enough! Both of you that's enough! Don't you two think we have more important issues than your idiotic squabbles? Said Lars, his eyes bloodshot, causing most of the crowd to back away.

After taking a moment to calm himself down Lars, in a soft voice, riddled with underlying anger said, "Now Henry, you were saying that we all missed something import, can you please tell us what it is"

"I do apologize lars" sighed Henry "but it seems like whenever I get around a specific fool, I lose all of my hard earned exquisite manliness. To this Slempt tried to reply but was promptly stopped by a sharp glare from Lars, while people in the crowed started to question the old man's sanity when they heard him talk about his "exquisite manliness"

"Now" Proclaimed the elder in a proud voice. Listen up cause this old man still has a thing or two to show you! What you all were too blind to see was that we are right in front of Perfide's residence. So before we go tearing through the city why don't we have one of us go knock on the door and see if he's there?"

Hearing this many in the crowd started berating themselves for not having enough common sense to see something so obvious. In their shame, a few went as far as to slap themselves.

While this was happening, Lars was already making his way up ramp that led to the small porch that was connected to the house.

When he arrived, he hesitated a moment, as If unsure of himself, then knocked. It was quiet for a time, until the door was pulled open from the inside. When the door was opened, everyone could see a man who looked to be in his early thirty's. The man was currently sitting on a MobilChair, a battery and solar powered chair for the disabled.

The man's face showed that he was confused, even though he had been listening the entire time that the mob was outside. While putting on an air of complete innocence, the man, after saying hello to Lars asked, "What's going on here?"

To which Lars replied with a question of his own, "Hey Mark. Have you seen Perfide?"

"He's right inside the house. Did you all need him for something?" replied a woman's voice

"Ahh M-Margret, hello." Replied the suddenly nervous Lars.

The crowd also got a bit nervous.

Now, this might seem odd, but to everyone who knows her history, this was a very sensible reaction.

Margret and mark, when they were younger, were both well-known people who had reached the third level of martial practice. Both were martial masters with a body fully integrated with spirit force. Though a respectable achievement, this was not the reason for their fear.

-10 years ago—

When Mark was out training alone, because Margret had recently surpassed him and reached the peak stage of Martial Master practice, and also because he felt that he was on the cusp of a breakthrough into the that peak as well, he was far too focused on what was occurring on and around his spirit domain. When he saw that small cracks had started to form around the membrane that separating him from his spirit domain, he was happy to the point of breaking out in song. If he had done so he might have noticed that he was no longer alone. But instead he didn't let himself become conceited with that small victory and further increased his focus, cutting him almost entirely off from the outside world.

He focused and strained, expanding all of his spirit force into tempering his body and mind to hasten his breakthrough.

After some time, he succeeded and reached the peak of the second stage of Martial Practice. At that moment that he broke through the membrane and managed to feel the shell of his spirit domain, he let out a loud, sad and shocked cry because he was infinitely shocked.

The reason for his shock was because the shell around his spirit domain had the exact same feel as the membrane that he just broke through. Only this one was much more durable.

When he tried to see how his current level could affect the shell, his remaining spirit force couldn't even put a visible scratch on it. This quickly proved that once you conquer the hill, and reach the other side, there will still be a mountain in your path.

Seeing this, Mark yelled out in anger and desperation. His yell, not only attracted the attention of Margret who was not too far away but also that of the being that was in the bushes sleeping. His yell woke it up causing it to become enraged, quickly finding the source of its irritation it pulled its massive size completely into the open.

Based upon the diamond shaped iron that seemed to be imbedded into its skull, right between its 7 eyes, it was a peak mid-stage, Martial Master ranked Wolken. Wolken, are worm shaped creatures with the ability to quickly control every single inch of muscle on its body. The largest that has ever been seen was reported to have reached 37 meters in length, and 4 meters thick, capable of swallowing a grown man and his family whole. If it were only this Mark, now at the peak final stage of Martial Master Rank, would have had no problem dealing with it. Unfortunately Wolken's are also capable of burrowing into the ground, using the earth to feel their prey and using their own Spirit Force to prevent the earth from releasing even the slightest tremor.

The Wolken, in its anger, decided to use this ability to toy with the foolish creature which dared to awaken it from its slumber. So, hatching a plan, the Wolken didn't immediately come out from under Mark and swallow him whole, instead the Wolken moved a bit further away from Mark. It went deep under the ground, when it reached a point where the it could no longer stand the heat, it turned around pushing its body to go faster and faster. After nearly 10 miles of gaining speed, the Wolken broke through the earth, shot high into the earth. Remembering where Mark was located from the feel of the earth, it turned its body so that it would crush most of his body, leaving only his head and hear spared.

Sensing something Mark looked up, unfortunately it was too late and the Wolken was already directly above him. He tried to run, but all he had time to do was move his upper body and thighs out of the Wolken's way.

At about the same time that the Wolken crashed into Mark, Margret, who had just crested the hill to reach the ravine where Mark was, was frozen at the sight of a large Wolken that was about ten times marks length and three times his, width falling onto her newly wed husband. Hearing no sound from mark who, was merely unconscious from the pain, Margret feared that she was dead. Screaming his name she went on a rampage that even people miles away heard, and felt.

Brows furrowed in shock, eyes red, tears falling down her face and mouth open in a silent scream, as she attacked everything in her path. All to get revenge on the Wolken that would take the life of her husband. Completely forgetting her own weapons that were hanging at her waist, she attacked with her fists, feet, knees, elbow, shoulder and even her head. Felling trees with at most two consecutive hits she is finally less than 10 feet away from them, when she sees the Wolken's teeth inches away from mark and slowly approaching as if taunting her.

Even though her instincts were screaming at her telling her that she wasn't going to make it she persisted, passing her bodies maximum physical capabilities, yet still she pushed. Her skin was tearing from pushing her body to such a preposterous physical condition. Through the purest of luck her feet moving incredibly fast hit a small foot tall boulder, breaking her toes at the impact. The rock shattered shooting off in every direction at speeds that fat outstripped the current Margret. Two lucky, fast moving pieces of the boulder managed to directly exploit the Wolken's greatest weak point, its eyes.

Feeling the searing pain of having two of its eyes completely ravaged by those small missiles, the Wolken reared back, Roaring so load that even the guards of the far away Clartsmount city who came sounded a warning then came running. Margret seeing marks' current state flew into a deeper rage and directly attacked the Wolken in its moment of distraction. Raining down blows on its body with whatever was nearby from rocks to large branches. When those would break she would use her hands to beat it to death. At that point the City guards that had just arrived on scene saw the sight which caused the entire city, to fear her.

When they on reached the spot where all of this was occurring, and were getting ready to disembark from their short distance, Low-flying jet, froze. On the ground they could see a scene of devastation with no tree, plant or rock left in one piece. At the end of that trail they saw a single five foot ten inch tall woman, bloodied hair flying around, treating a Wolken like her punching bag, while a man lies unmoving on the ground. Seeing this scene, the guard which was designated to record the excursion had made sure not to miss a second of this terrible scene. Finally seeming to be done, or realizing that her prey, the source of her anger was dead, Margret rose from her position on the ground.

But before she turned away from the corpse, she reached down with her hands into a smaller wound which she had afflicted on the Wolken and pulled. She screamed and pulled, her own bones breaking under the immense pressure of the Wolken's immense weight. After a few seconds of determined pulling, sounds of tearing could be heard till finally the Wolken was pulled apart. Bones, blood, internal organs, fat, muscles, its earlier lunch and other miscellaneous foul items when flying through the air, most of it landed on Margret.

Finally seeming to snap out of her rage filled trance, Margret turned around and again the tears started to flow as she hobbled towards her Mark. When she reached his body she fell to her knees beside his body, softly saying his name over and over again. She shook him, repeatedly, but he did not move. In the final moment before her body gave out from over exertion, she reared her head back and gave off a scream so primal, so filled with helpless, hopeless desperation, that even the guards hardened through years of watching people die momentarily felt their hardened hearts shake with warmth and their eyes blur with tears. Seeing the woman finally fall beside the man seemingly unconscious the guard captain startled awake from his stupor and order the medics to get them in the jet so they could get back to the city.

Unknown to the unconscious couple, Margret's actions were all recorded by that guard and broadcasted to the entire city. When she awoke, found out that mark was still alive but would never walk on his own feet again, she started to cry again. Seeing the disgusted look that her parents, friends and family gave to Mark, even going so far as saying that she should annul and marry someone else, she released her full power in anger shocking everyone.

Margret Alston, had gone from the peak of the second rank to the peak of the third rank in less than a week, something never witnessed by humanity. Seeing this they began to further say that she should find a better husband than the cripple. She screamed at them to leave. And once Mark was conscious a week later, they packed their things, got away from her parents influence and went to the outer city.

Now this is what caused their fear. It was not the broadcast of her actions, it was what she did to the seven gang members that decided that since she was supposedly a delicate woman with a cripple for a husband, that they'd have some fun. Unfortunately for them, Margret was still angry at her family and needed something to use to relieve her anger. They having offered themselves up as sacrifice made her very happy. For hours on that night all the people heard were screams. The guards were called in to stop the disturbance, when they came to the area they saw a, short, black haired, brown-eyed, crippled man in a wheel chair sitting at the entrance of the alley

Before they could go in he said to the guards, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you, if you do make sure to find yourselves a good therapist. This clearly confused the guards because the man didn't seem scared at all, but was instead pitying them! So the captain didn't listen to the audacious cripple and ordered some of his men in there to go find out what was going on, while the rest remained to question the cripple.

The guards went in only to come back screaming and throwing up all over themselves, while holding onto their crotches and the look in their eyes was one of fear.

When the captain and the guards who hadn't gone in there saw the reactions they too started getting scared. The captain approached one of the less impacted guards and asked him what was going on.

The guard, while crying and making a cutting motion with one hand and pointing at his himself incoherently said, "She cut it sir, she cut IT. She didn't do it all at once either sir, she did it piece by piece."

At the same time that he finished speaking, the screaming also stopped. All they could here was sobbing and begging. After sometime they saw a woman, she was a one of a kind beauty, long luscious red hair, icy blue eyes, unblemished face, alluring figure that taunted many men, approaching with bloody hands that held a knife which she promptly threw into the trash.

When Mark saw her he asked, "Better?"

To which she replied, with a smile that would have been beautiful if it were not for the blood on her hands, "better, much better"

Seeing the guards she went up to captain and asked him for a handkerchief which he gave, she then proceeded to wipe the blood off her hands. While the people of Outer City and the guards watched in shock and fear, she simply walked away seemingly without a care in the world.

When the captain and some of the people went in to look came out, all of them came out with a look of absolute horror and revulsion on their faces. Not saying a single word they left Outer city and the following day, an entire squadron of guards including their captains, quit their jobs and started searching for counseling. That night only 2 people in all of Outer City slept soundly.

-Now—

Thinking back on this, those that were there, all took another step back feeling pity for Lars who had voluntarily knocked on the door.

With Nervous Politeness, Lars asked, "Can you call him out please we have some questions we'd like to ask him.  
Of course this caused Margret to grow suspicious. While narrowing her eyes she called out, "Perfide, come here please"

They immediately heard footsteps coming near and they saw a six year old boy tall for his age with dark brown hair and the blue eyes of his mother appear in the doorway.

Perfide upon seeing his sandal screamed out in joy, "my shoe I was looking everywhere for it. Thank you Lars"

To which Lars replied, "Don't worry about that Perfide. Now I have a question for you okay?"

"Okay" replied Perfide, with a calm and ready appearance.  
Lars then asked, "Earlier, we heard someone scream for help, was that you?"

"uhh" said Perfide as he was thinking back. Until a smile lit up his face and he said, "Yup I did, I was going to open the door to enter the house when I felt a hand fall on my shoulder. And that's when I started to yell. Then the hand grabbed my pants and that made me scream some more."

Hearing this made Lars ask, "Then everything's okay? You're not hurt?"

"No" said Perfide, "it was only my dad"

Even though everyone else seemed to understand, Margret's mind seemed to head in a different, more worrisome direction.

Before anyone could even breathe a sigh in relief that Perfide was safe, they heard Margret ask, with a gentle smile on her face while with sweat sounding words, "Mark sweaty? Why were you pulling on our sons pants while grabbing him?"

Hearing this everyone except for Perfide figured out that she had misunderstood, and their eyes bulged out at the implication of her words.

To this an extremely frightened mark quickly exclaimed, "It was only me trying to surprise him a bit. Tell her Perfide, Tell Her!"

Margret then looked at Perfide and asked, "You can tell mommy, is what he said true? Was it only playing? He didn't do anything weird?"

Perfide in his innocence says, "No, he was only piking me up so I could sit on his lap."

"His lap?" said Margret while looking at her husband for a long time. She then Proceeded to grab her sons hand while saying, "come with mommy, you need to learn to stay away from perverts like your father"

"What's a pervert" asked Perfide

"Pervert is another name for your father" replied Margret.

"Perfide looking as if he'd just discovered something amazing asked his mom, "really!? Can I call dad that?"

When Perfide asked this Mark's face convulsed into an ugly expression of horror, which further increased when he heard his wife say, "Yes of course you can, make sure to do it all the time okay. Especially in public. Now be a god boy and tell your father that it's time to go back."

Using his new discovery Perfide said, "Pervert, mom said it's time to go back"

When the crowd that had yet to disperse saw Marks new fate, they all shot him looks of pity as he, with his head held low, went inside the house.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 _ **Leave Me Alone!**_

Dinner for Perfide had finished hours ago, their dishes were cleaned and now comes the time that the family usually spends together. But instead of spending that time before bed with his mother and father, Perfide had other ideas.

"Umm, mom" said Perfide "can I just go to bed early tonight"

His parents hearing this were completely shocked, as they usually have to force him to head to bed.

Worried his mother replied saying, "Yes, but are you sure? Is everything okay?"

While at almost the same time Marked worriedly asked, "Nothing's wrong right?"

Seeing their worried faces, Perfide smiled and said, "No, no. I'm fine, just tired"

Believing that he was simply tired, they agreed and Perfide went to his room and climbed into his bed. But contrary to his parents expectations he did not directly go to sleep. Instead his mind was entirely focused upon his encounter with Elder Umbra and what he did. The only thing that the public knew about the man that they were order to refer to as Elder Umbra, is that he's old, missing a leg and, virtually, no one knows anything about him. But what he did to Perfide earlier that morning, caused Perfide to become absolutely certain that Elder Umbra was someone important and definitely not someone simple.

Thinking about the elder caused him to start thinking about the pentagram and the dragon which hatched from the egg. He remembers it saying that, he wasn't ready yet, but after an entire day of thinking to himself and pondering the question Perfide still couldn't figure out exactly what he was supposed to be ready for, when he needed to be ready, or how he was meant to get ready for it.

With these troublesome thoughts flowing through his head, Perfide eventually closed his eyes and went to sleep.

As he was falling asleep, there were five shadows on the roof of the house directly across from Perfide's window. Currently five of the shadows were discussing one thing, Perfide.

What exactly they were discussing, Perfide would find out soon. But unfortunately this is information that would come at a cost which he would never be willing to pay. But one way or another he would pay it.

The end of night and the rise of the sun several hours after Perfide had fallen into a deep sleep, found his bedroom empty. The owner of that bedroom was going about his daily ritual, hunting for food. But why would a child with a mother that had long since reached the peak of the third Martial lord practice, even if she chose not to further he training as to avoid increasing her life span.

Perfide having to hunt was directly because of the fact that his mother had decided to leave her parents family, in order to stay with her husband. Many people were angered by her suddenly leaving the house, but decided to not do anything about it.

Six years ago when Perfide was born she was given a choice, either give up her husband so that he could succeed the family. Or to give up her cultivation and to never use the Berlous Family name again.

Being the person she is, she signed a blood contract in front of a judge and many witnesses and willingly gave up her Spirit Domain and became only slightly stronger than someone who had done light exercise their entire lives. Even though she had lost he spirit domain, the effects that it had on her body still remained, he bones and skin were still as tough, making her much still as durable as she was when she still had her spirit domain. To the family who were staring at it with their ugly greed Margret, her crippled husband, and their new born son no longer meant anything to them

As Perfide advanced into the part of the forest that was directly west of his house, he would occasionally see some other people of the Outer City who would use the relatively safe parts of the forest to hunt, or the bored Citizens of Clartsmount that would come out to hunt for sport.

At first when he saw Citizens in the forest, he would treat them as normal people, say hello and keep going on his way. But he quickly learned that to most of the people who are referred to as Citizens, because their allowed to live within Clartsmount city, the people who can only live in the Outer City are noting but the dirt beneath their feet, definitely not their equals.

Unlike most kids his age, Perfide was growing stronger. It's been over a month since He'd started venturing into the forest. At first, the long trek was almost impossible for his young body to handle, requiring repeated stops just to make it there and back. This was simply because he was young, and the younger you are the quicker you develop.

With his body quickly growing, and his repeated hike's causing him to push himself on a daily bases caused his body to quickly absorb and become more attuned to the flow of the energy which humanity started calling Natural Force, in relation to their Spirit Force. Unknown to Perfide, every moment he pushed himself to small extremes, he was absorbing an amount that could rival begin the beginner Martial Practitioner who had just begun to sense their own Spirit Force.

But because of his body's own physical weakness and the fact that he had yet to sense his own Spirit Force, the energy from Natural Force was unable to be converted into Spirit force. To prevent a buildup of natural force, which would have been catastrophic, Perfide's body began to synthesize the Natural Force that was within his body, taking in what it could use and rejecting everything else back out into the world. With his body constantly allowing Natural Force to go in and out of his body, Perfide's body slowly began adapting to this new form of energy, demanding more and more, and using it to conduct more of his bodily functions, enhancing his every sense. He could now see further with more clarity, he could hear further than most people, his sense of smell was only marginally worse than that of the Derolf that he had killed the day before. So enhanced became his perception that if he closed his eyes and focused all of his other senses he could, vaguely pinpoint someone, or somethings, location within 10 feet in any direction! As time progressed it became easier and easier for Perfide to unconsciously absorb and use Natural Force.

With Natural Force imbuing him with strength, without having broken into a sweat, even though he'd just walked a little over a mile Perfide walked on under the hot sun of July. Because of his sharp hearing and sense of smell, he easily figure out that if he turned right and went north, he would come upon a moderately sized group of people doing some form of exercise. Being curious at the new occurrence, Perfide did exactly that. And after around five minutes of continuous walking, Perfide could finally see the source of the disturbance.

Partially hidden behind a tree Perfide could clearly see that less than 50 feet away from him, there was a group of people running around what seemed to be a large camp site. While the people running seemed to be around 10 years of age, the people in uniform watching them run were much older. The youngest of them all being seemed to be no younger than 20. Judging by their uniforms those that were watching and critiquing the younger group were members of the Guard Force of Clartsmount City, a specially designed all-purpose police force.

As he was watching them Perfide was watching he said out loud to himself, "Why they're running"

"Their running to increase their stamina." Said a voice form directly behind Perfide who was so completely absorbed in watching that he almost didn't hear the voice. But he did, in his fright his eyes widened to their maximum size, as he jump and turned around to face the person. In front of him stood three men. The one to the left was the tallest and had a fuzzy beard growing. The one in the middle was the more average height of the three and stood at a little over six and a half feet and had long hair in a ponytail. While to the right stood the shortest but the burliest of them all with an on his back.

"Hello boy." Said the man with the pony tail with a serious look on his face, "What are you doing here spying on us while our new recruits train?"

The still shocked Perfide had no way of responding.

The man to the right quickly nudged the man next to him while reaching for his axe saying, "Seems like he can't talk. Maybe the beast have gotten smarter and this is one of them in disguise"

Hearing this and seeing the Man now holding his massive axe as if getting ready to use it, Perfide's eyes almost popped out of his head, while his fear reached new heights.

Not knowing what to think about their actions, Perfide was on the verge of tears. When suddenly, he realizes that this feeling is somewhat similar to what Elder Umbra did to him. That feeling of helplessness, of desperation, of having death breathing down the back of your neck caused him to remember the words that Elder umbra had said to him after he'd woken up.

With anger smoldering in his heart, and unfathomable determination plainly visible in his eyes and on his face, Perfide looked the man with the axe, the one that had just accused him of being a spy, and said, calmly, with an aura around him that didn't belong to someone his age, "No, I'm not a spy. But you seem to like scaring children, so you must be a pervert"

….

"HAHAHAHA. Lenus, He HAHA called you HAHAHA a pervert HAHAHAHAHA…" laughed the two other men as they fell on the floor laughing at the misfortunes of their axe bearing friend. OHH man, HAHA

The man whose name is apparently Lenus became more embarrassed with each passing moment as he stared at the serious face of the child that he's just tried to scare. The laughter of his companions caused Lenus's anger to grow alongside his embarrassment until finally he could take it no more.

"SHUT UP, IT's NOT THAT FUNNY", Yelled an angered Lenus.

Unfortunately for him this only seemed to make his situation worse because his companions started laughing even harder than they were before. Lenus simply shook his head waiting for them to calm down.

After some more time, the two managed to calm themselves down and again direct that domineering force at Perfide who was slowly trying to sneak away. Grabbing Perfide by the shoulder, the ponytailed man asked with a straight face, "where do you think you're going kid?"

Perfide glared at the man and simply said, "Home"

To which the man said, "No, absolutely not. We can't let the person who made us laugh so much leave without a present. That would simply be rude you know."

"It's okay." Said Perfide, as he tried to pull away from the hand on his shoulder, "I don't need any gifts."

"Oh really? Well that's too bad, but you should probably accept our gifts you know, I mean you would want to be rude to us while were being so nice to you. I'm not saying that you have to accept it or anything. All I mean is that if you don't accept, Nam's offer, we might just get a little mad. And I'm sure you don't want to have your new friends get mad. Right? Said the tallest of the three with a smile on his face.

"You see" said the ponytailed Nam as he tightened his grip on Perfide's shoulder to prevent him from moving, "We really do want to give you a nice gift. And like Mans just said it would be really nice if you were to accept."

Perfide seeing that he couldn't move, meaning that he had no way out, decided to just accept while thinking to himself, "okay, I'd better accept. It's not like it could be something bad anyways"

"Okay" said Perfide.

"Really? Well seeing as how you were so interested in the running that was happening, why you don't join them for the next fifteen minutes. To make things even better, Mans here will give you a nice kick every time you stop. Now doesn't that sound great?" said Nam while smiling.

Not knowing what to do Perfide decided to go ahead and just do it. Seeing the man called Nam tilting his head in the direction of the camp and loosening his grip, Perfide took that as his cue, telling him that his fifteen minutes just started.

As the three men were watching Perfide's retreating back, they began to talk amongst themselves.

"How old do you think he is?" asked Lenus

"Six", replies Nam, "No, maybe eight or nine"

"Maybe? What do you mean by maybe? Weren't you reading him with your spirit force? Said a confused Mans

"I tried but what I saw was odd, it's as if his body is that of nine year olds, but his mind is still that of six year old. I've really never seen that happen before to someone his age. It only happens to people after they reach the first stage of training, Martial student…." Said Nam

"I really don't know how to explain, since that boy has no Spirit force within his body, it means that he hasn't begun Martial Practice. But somehow he was even able to shake off the combined effect of the three of us, trying to intimidating him."

"That boy", said Nam while sighing, "is definitely not simple"

Hearing these words from their captain, Lieutenant's Lenus and Mans could not help but be thoroughly shaken by them. Never before have they heard their captain say words like these to anyone especially not a boy, whose height, barely passes their waist's.

Ignorant of this conversation, Perfide made his way sullenly to the path the boys were running on.

While getting ready to start running he saw a middle aged man running towards him with a confused look on his face.

"Wait boy. What are you doing here? What's your name? "Asked the man wearing the same uniform as Lenus and Mans.

"My name's Perfide sir. I was told by the 3 Men over there wearing the same kind of clothes as you for 15 minutes." Said Perfide while pointing to the place where Nam, Lenus and Mans were standing and watching.

"Those three sent you?" asked the man, "Then fine, get to it then."

Without even providing Perfide with another glance, the man turned around and went back to completing his tasks.

With nothing else to do, Perfide placed his bags by the side of the trail, and began to slowly jog along the path. As he was going around the track, people passing him would give him curious stares, confused as to what a kid that young was doing there.

Less than a minute in, Perfide felt a voice yell from behind him, "FASTER BRAT", before he could even react, he felt something blunt impact with his backside. Knowing that it was Mans kicking him because he wasn't going fast enough, Perfide sped up, as he muttered "14 minutes left"

"14 minutes? Oh silly me did I forget to say that each time I have to kick you means another 2 minutes of running?" said Mans

Hearing this the other runners felt their eyes widen as they stared at Perfide in pity, seeing as how they only had to run another 30 seconds per kick.

Not wanting to receive any more kicks, Perfide sped up. Unfortunately, things did not go as he planned. After another minute he received another kick and again he sped up.

Over and over, Perfide received a kick. The Kicks finally stopped when he was going at his full speed and truly exerting himself. By the time he was yelled at by Nam to stop running, over an hour had passed and his once dry shirt was drenched from hem to neckline.

Shuffling his way to his bags, Perfide was so tired that he couldn't even be bothered to notice that the entire camp had stopped all that they were doing to stare in shock at the six year old whose full speed exceeded that of people years older than him. Not only that but he managed to keep it up for over 30 minutes, something even most people at the Martial Student rank can't do.

Perfide making it to the bags, drowsily reached down to pick them up. Unfortunately he underestimated the state of his own body, because as he was reaching, he keeled over, rolled onto his back and drifted into unconsciousness.

As Perfide fell asleep he again returned to that state where he was face to face with that ball shaped mist. Ecstatic at once more coming back and the prospect of getting some answers from that voice, Perfide quickly pushed through the mist. And once more came face to face with the dragon, but this time he was sleeping on the pentagram while surrounded by those different colored balls.

Try as he might Perfide was unable to wake him up, not knowing what to do all he could do was look around the space and enjoy the feeling that it gave him.

Worrying that he might have pushed the boy too far Mans, at his fastest speed arrived to catch his head before it made contact with the ground. Nam, though he was even further away than Mans, arrived less than a second after Mans did and quickly checked the state of Perfide's body.

Relieved he sighed saying, "He's fine just tired. There really isn't a drop of strength left in his body. Just let him rest there."

Everyone went back to what they were doing and sometime late, Perfide woke up from his slumber. He got up seeing neither, Mans, Lenus or Nam around, decided to quickly grab his bags and leave.

Looking at his bags beside him he saw that there were three small, dead, animals next to it. They were Crents, Small, the size of Perfide's Arm, fast and vicious animals that would claw at anyone who got close enough. They were about a foot half a foot tall, had the a short black snout, brown and purple fur, and 6 legs, two close together behind his head, two far apart it his middle and two close together as hind legs.

Not sure what they were doing there Perfide got confused, when he heard the voice of Nam, the captain, calling out from behind him.

"They're yours boy. I could see that you were out hunting so I had one of the boys bring em too you. I have to go now but I'll see you tomorrow." He said.

"Tomorrow?" asked Perfide while furrowing his brows in confusion.

"HAHA yeah. Of course, it seems like I forgot to tell you that since you did so well today we want you to keep coming back every day. Isn't that great" laughed an obviously jovial Nam.

"Sorry sir but I come into the woods to get some stuff to sell and bring home. If I do this every day, I'll be too tired to go look for plants and animals." Was Perfide's almost instantaneous reply.

"That's what those Crents are for. Every time you do so well we'll have someone do your hunting for you. Doesn't that sound great?" Replied Nam

As Perfide was starting to get ready to leave, again Nam called out. This time he said, "Make sure you come. Okay? Cause if don't I'd have to come get you myself and you'll have to do your own hunting once you're done. By now Perfide, be careful on the way home."

Angry at the happy mood of the person behind him, Perfide quickly walked away, heading for home.

While walking Perfide began to question why he the dragon was asleep. Not coming up with any answers, he turned his mind to how. He considered how he managed to get there today, but not last night when he went to sleep. Remembering that the first time he went there, he fell asleep from pushing himself past his limit and then again today he did the same thing, he drew the conclusion that he can only go back there if he had no more energy left in his body.

And if this was truly the case, then having to go back there every day might not be such a bad thing.

So Perfide decided that he would make use of it, and try to find a way to wake up the dragon or at least hear that voice again. Thinking it was normal for him, Perfide ignored the fact that his body now had slightly more energy than it had before and that his fatigue was completely gone he went on his way. Seeking to quickly get back home.

Too bad that was not the case.

Now that Perfide was walking home, instead of hunting he decided to follow the trail. And when Perfide walks on the trail, he considers himself safe from the animals that would harm him. Because of this he completely missed the fact that his personal bullies had already spotted him, had decided to lay in wait for him. To jump at him and steal his Crents.

The moment Perfide came in range, the three bullies jumped out of the shrubs.

Mark arrogantly yelled, "Good morning trash. IT's time for your daily beating. We know you hid stuff from us yesterday buy not this time. So hand over those bags and we'll only beat you till you're for a little bit."

"Yeah, you know it's a good deal. I mean you're getting more out of this than we are, were willing to give up on some of our precious fun for some of those terrible looking Crents you're carrying. So you should really be showing us some respect. Ahh I have a good Idea! Why don't you crawl on the ground while you come over here and lick our shoes clean while you thank us." Added Lou

"It's truly the least you can do especially since we had to get them dirty in order to come find you." Agreed Henri.

While they were being so in tuned with each other's pathetic notions, they were hearing seeing Perfide's mouth move but they couldn't hear anything.

"Oy" yelled Mark, "speak up trash"

"Leave me alone" said Perfide, loud enough for them to hear.

This shocked the three because they couldn't ever remember Perfide saying something like that to them.

Quickly awakening from his stupor, Mark screamed, "What the hell trash, talking back to your betters. Are you looking to die?"

The other two quickly followed suit, letting off their own strings of curses.

As they were cursing him, Perfide's anger quickly grew till he could take no more.

While letting loose his, frustrations and pains, Perfide dropped his bags and newly acquired Crents, Grabbed fistfuls of his hair and with one loud screech of release, yelled to the world, "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Before these words could even finish leaving his mouth, a very loud explosion resounded through the forest, the focal point being Perfide himself. Animals that heard it quickly ran away while those that were within its short range of impact, were blown away by the force of it. Perfide did not know it then put, at that moment, right before he screamed, his body and mind remembered the feel of the heavenly Force which Elder umbra had release the day before and the intimidation that those three guard officers unleashed.

And in that moment of announcing to the world that he should be left alone, Perfide's body, enhanced by the energy from Natural Force. Released everything in one go.

At the moment they saw Perfide trembling and pulling his own hair, they knew something was wrong, terribly wrong. But they didn't know what until that explosion rang through the forest, and because they were within two arms lengths of Perfide, they received the brunt of the force and all three were knocked unconscious and thrown back almost 10 feet.

Because he had released every single drop of energy within his body, Perfide fell to his hands and knees gasping for breath. When he could finally stand up again, he looked up and saw the bully's lying on the floor. Seeing that they were still breathing, Perfide gathered his belongings which had been tossed a few meters away and left.

When he got home his parents were of course shocked to see three, hard to catch, Crents. Suspicious of how he caught them they asked him to which he responded, "They were a gift."

From who they asked. But all Perfide could say was that it was a guard. So they left it alone and because of how tired he was, Perfide once more went to bed early further worrying his parents.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 _ **Forgive me Perfide**_

Over this past month, Perfide had consistently been pushing himself to the point of complete exhaustion. When Captain Nam of the Clartsmount City guards saw this he felt that his decision to have Perfide come over every day was truly an Idea handed down by heaven. This was not because he was overly proud of seeing that Perfide has hidden potential, Rather it was because of how much Perfide pushed himself and the influence his actions had on the recruits. When they saw a boy younger than them pushing himself harder and for longer they could, it made them angry. All of the other members of the recruit camp, both men and women, used that anger and started to push themselves harder. Some went at it so hard that they would pass out just like Perfide Does, stopping only when they've used up every drop of energy within their bodies! People passing out on the path got so annoying to the people supervising them that they put together a small unit that would be solely dedicated to removing the unconscious body's.

"Little Crazy passed out again" sighed a Supervisor.

Turning around he said to a recruit "go get Perfide a couple of the animals that were caught earlier today."

As the recruit scurried of to do as he was told, the Supervisor sighed again, gave Perfide one last complicated look and walked away.

Everyone at the camp thought that Capitan Nam had pitied Perfide and had made a secret deal with him. Something along the lines of, push yourself till you pass out and you get some animals. While Nam believed that either Perfide secretly enjoyed pushing his body's limits, like he does, or that Perfide was only doing it out of fear from their first encounter. In truth, all of their guesses were completely wrong. Perfide was not running to exhaustion because of the secret deal, because of fear, or even because of weird masochistic tendency's. Perfide tan till exhausted, because he knew that this was the only way for him to arrive at the place where the ball of mist is. For a month now he's been trying to hear that voice again to ask it questions, but for all of his efforts he got nothing. He would be able to get there and by now he's memorized every single inch of the place, but he has yet to get what he wanted. The dragon also never woke up since that very first time. This left Perfide disappointed but still he remained determined.

Even though struggles while unconscious haven't seen fruition, his conscious battles caused shocking improvements. Every day for the past month Perfide has been consistently improving. He would begin and end each day at maximum speed. On that second day, he only lasted at maximum speed for thirty minutes. By the end of the first 5 days, he would last fifty minutes. By the end of the first 10 days, Perfide's time to run before he became exhausted increased by around 30, bringing him to 80 minutes. Another 5 days passed and the time it takes for Perfide to fall unconscious has increased to 125 minutes, a 45 minute increase. Again 5 days passed after which his time soared to 190 minutes. By today, the end of the of his first month, it's been 10 days since he last measured his time and today after 397 minutes, almost 7 hours of continuous full paced running, Perfide finally could run no more and finally fell unconscious.

With each passing 5 day segment the shock written on everyone's face was plainly written. By the end of the month their minds couldn't even comprehend how something like that was possible, a boy almost 7 years old, who hasn't even undergone his spirit awakening can run for almost 7 hours without stopping. No one wanted to believe, but there it was right in front of them, the final results of six hours and 37 minutes, not only that but people who heard about it had come to see for themselves.

Even though Perfide had indeed completed almost 7 hours of continuous running, it was not done under his own power. The reason he could pull of 6 and a half hours was because his body had, over the past month, become more attuned with natural energy, the rate at which it could now be drawn in had been what increased exponentially. Perfide's own body was only dong 3 percent of the work. So even though Perfide ran for 397 minutes, his body had only expanded enough energy for him to run, at his fastest speed, for 11.91 minutes.

Originally Perfide's full speed which was originally around 6 miles per hour had increased to 10 without natural energy and about 20 using it. A Massive jump? No it was not.

All of the people who had attended had witnessed that child do the impossible. There was even a Martial Saint in the crowd. Though at the moment not really dignified since his jaw was hanging loose, and eyes were wider than they'd ever been as he was watching Perfide drag himself to his bags, half asleep. With the Solemn word of a Martial Saint a revered member of society, anyone who dares to disbelieve would be asking for death.

Knowing that if word reached the other city's or even the Main city, Kritan, at the center of the continent, then they would do their utmost to have them join them, the officials of Clartsmount City paid off everyone who was there, to have them keep quiet. With the spirit awakening ceremony approaching, everyone who saw Perfide's performance had great expectations for his results. Some thought he could get a speedy wild cat like the Empar, the fastest land beast known to man, or even the Lentap, strong and indomitable a king within the beasts. Everyone had their own expectations, even the highest ranked officials in the city had decided to attend simply to see, what they predicted to be, history in the making.

Perfide, in his unconscious bliss, was again entering the mist but this time before he could begin his regular actions, he hear a voice call out seemingly out of nowhere saying, "Soon, not yet but soon. Very soon." After which he was startled awake and could instantly tell that he was completely rejuvenated, faster than ever before. While lying on his back, Perfide noticed the clouds and could instantly tell that he had spent far too much time there. Because he had left the house a little before sun rise, 6:30, combined with the fact that it the sun was already half way down on his west.

"If this continues" thought Perfide, "I won't be able to run till I fall asleep anymore"

"I wonder what Captain Nam would say" he muttered

"About what" said a familiar voice to his north. Sitting up and turning around he saw the smiling face of the Captain looking down questioningly at him.

"I don't think I can keep coming out here every day to run" said Perfide. After having this happen my times before, Perfide no longer reacted when he popped out of nowhere instead he accepted it as an undisputed fact

"Oh. And why not?" asked Nam

"Because" replied Perfide, "it's already so late, and when I come tomorrow it will take even longer for me to stop, so how am I supposed to explain to my mom that I have to spend the whole day outside"

Seeming to understand what Perfide meant Nam, beckoned to Perfide and said, "Follow me Little Crazy, I think I might have something that could help you."

Curious, Perfide followed him and cut through the camp until he arrived at its center.

When they got inside, the captain started rummaging through his desk. After sometime of searching, he finally came back up with a very loud, "GOTCHA"

In his hands, Nam was holding a ring. The ring had circles etched into its sides.

Nam then tossed Perfide the ring, upon closer inspections Perfide could see that the ring looked more like two rings that were pieced together.

Nam seeing Perfide's incredulity told him to put it on his index finger. Though still unsure, Perfide did exactly that. And felt…Nothing.

Seeing Perfide still confused, Nam laughed and said, "Calm down Perfide, just sit down and let me explain about the ring."

After they both sat down, Nam continued saying, "That has been in use for decades. People who train get them when they want to increase who hard it is for them to run. After you put the ring on pull out the top portion, you will see a second set of rings inside, turn the grey inner ring, set it onto value you want, and push it back in, it activates. The ring works on sun light and Natural Energy, it feeds of either of these to create and deploy a screen over the user's body. That screen has been specifically designed to increase how much a person is affected by the wind. Now that's the first option. The second option can only be used after getting completely used to the full effects of the first of the first ring. The second inner ring, the black one consumes much more solar power and Natural Energy but, it makes good use of that energy. What the second ring does is it completely solidifies the screen that the second option created. After solidifying, the owner of the ring can then use the black inner ring and use that to increase the density of the screen around you, thus increasing the user's weight. So unless you want to break your bed when you go to sleep, take off the ring, that will immediately cause it to turn off. Understand Perfide?"

"Yeah, don't use the second one yet first one only. When using the second one take off before going anywhere you can break." Exclaimed the excited Perfide

After being drilled in the workings of the ring Perfide finally managed to get back on that familiar trail and head home. On his way there he saw someone standing there leaning on his cane while whistling a tune with his eyes closed. It was Elder Umbra.

Coming near the elder Perfide bowed low, with his hand forward, left hand covering the fist of the right, and said "Hello respected elder"

Stopping his tune, Elder Umbra turned towards Perfide and said, "well hello Perfide, how have you been since the last time saw each other."

"I've been well, thank you Elder. I also made sure to follow the advice which you gave." Replied Perfide

"No need for thanks Perfide, I was merely reminding you of something that you forgot" answered the elder who then shut his eyes and went back to whistling. Clearly dismissing Perfide.

As Perfide passed by the elder, he suddenly felt himself falling over as blackness quickly over took his consciousness. While Perfide lay unconscious on the ground, the elder was standing above him, with tears forming in his eyes. Slowly the elder went down on one knee, and spoke so softly that even if you were inches away from him you wouldn't have been able to hear it.

"Forgive me Perfide. I hope that you will be able to get through this next moment in your young life." Sighed the elder while placing his hands directly on Perfide, one hand on his forehead and the other hand on his heart. Again that glow surrounded his hands, but this time it was different. This time around there was no soothing feeling, instead it was constricting. It was as if the elder was forcibly confining something within Perfide's body.

After sometime the glow faded away, and Perfide woke up.

Seeing the elder kneeling on the ground on his one good knee, with a sad look on his face, Perfide groggily asked him, "What happened"

"I'm not sure" replied Elder Umbra, "You were walking fine one moment, and the next you were falling on the floor."

"Has this ever happened to you before?" asked the elder

"No" said Perfide. At this point Perfide stood up seeing that he was fine, he decided to hurry home since it was getting late.

Before he could leave, he was stopped by the elder who said, "I need to speak with you about something important but it will have to wait since your turning seven tomorrow right?

"YUP!" exclaimed the now delighted Perfide.

"Then that means you'll be attending the awakening ceremony tomorrow with the other people who turn seven this month. Lucky you your birthday's the first of the month. After the Ceremony I need you to come and find me okay. Now this is really important Perfide, you have to come find me tomorrow after the Awakening Ceremony. I will be waiting at the spot where we first met, do you remember the place." Said Elder Umbra

"ookaaay…" said a confused Perfide

"I know you need to go home but first I need you to remember what I told you that day a month ago. Remember to, no matter what happens, remain determined, keep your head up and never back down. Got it? Good you can go now." said the elder.

Perfide felt a chill go down his spine as he heard the elders last words, as if the elder had just placed a prophesy of suffering upon his head.

Shivering, not from the cold, Perfide quickly went away, trying to shake of that feeling of doom.

As Perfide was running away, a lone tear rolled down Elder Umbra's wrinkled face.

Seemingly out of nowhere, four people appeared, three on the left side of Elder Umbra and one on his right. Though it may have seen like it, they did not appear out of thin air. It was only that their movements were too fast for the average person to follow. The one to the far left was wearing plain clothes, was just as old as Elder Umbra, and only slightly taller. He seemed to just fade into existence. There were only two difference between him and elder Umbra. The fist was that he had all of his limbs. And the second was that he wore a gold ring with 5 dragons on it. Of all five dragons, one of them was constantly glowing white, if one could have seen the inside of the ring, they would have seen the word " _lux_ ", inscribed in white on the inside.

The one who stood to his direct right, was also plain and old, and had a gold ring of his own. His ring also had five dragons, but this one was grey on the inside was written, " _Ventus"._ When he came, he came running, but it was almost like he was flying. The one in the middle was just like the others. The only exception was that the dragon on his rings was also gold, but this one gave off sparks. Inside his ring was inscribed, " _Fulgur"_. When he came in, he left a trail of flames on the ground, caused by the sparks that struck the ground. To the right of Elder umbra was a man this one adorned in all black, the same color as the dragon on his ring. When he came in, all light bent around a circular opening that was hanging in midair, through which he stepped through. But it was done so fast that no normal human could hope to see it. On the inside of his ring was the word, " _Umbra"_.

Seeing these people arrive, Elder Umbra stretched his hand over the earth. The earth directly beneath him came a ring identical to that of the others. The dragon on this one was of a light brown and green mixture. On the inside was written, " _Terra"._ The ring quickly rosetowards his outstretched palm and slipped onto his index finger.

The moment the ring situated itself onto his finger all five rings lit up.

As the rings stay lit, the facial expressions of the men, were going through changes, as if they were having a conversation without their mouths moving. After sometime of this the rings died down and the other four nodded, leaving Elder Umbra standing alone.

With one last sigh Elder Umbra started leaving. But not by walking, instead he seemed to sink into the earth. Completely disappearing.

An oblivious Perfide finally arrived home. When he arrived he saw all of the lights were off, something that he's never seen before. He opened the door, walked inside, and closed it behind him. The moment he went to turn on a light he heard a mixture of voices yelling, "Surprise!"

Jumping backwards in shock he fell on the floor, with eyes wide he beheld the smiling faces of his family and Lars.

Seeing his face wrought with confusion, Margret came up to him and said, "Happy birthday sweaty!"

But this only made Perfide even more confused because he knew that his birthday was tomorrow. So he asked said, "But I thought that my Birthday's tomorrow"

"It is" replied his father, "But the Awakening Ceremony is also tomorrow so you'll be gone most of the day tomorrow. We thought that we would celebrate your 7th birthday a day early instead of a day late."

At this point his mother grabbed his hands, pulled him up and said, "Come on, you have some presents to open you know"

Hearing the word present, Perfide's earlier confusion immediately cleared up and on his face was shown joy and anticipation. Quickly he followed he located their dinner table and on it lay four neatly wrapped packages.

"Alright Perfide, which one do you want to open first" asked Lars

"The Big one" said Perfide while pointing to large blue package.

"HA" exclaimed an obviously happy Margret. "Of course he would pick one of the ones I got him."

As if in a hurry, Margret all but ran to the table to grab the package to give it to her son. Ripping the packaging apart, Perfide saw his present. It was actually a three for one present. He got clothes.

Though usually this would make a child unhappy, but these were the best clothes that he'd ever gotten. Comparing these new shirt, pant and pair of shoes, to one of his old ones is like saying animal dung has as wonderful a fragrance as a flower. Completely different.

"These are for tomorrow, not only is it your birthday, but it is also the day of the monthly ceremony, making it a doubly important occasion. So you have to look your best on tomorrow.

Smiling because he knew his mother had to work hard for them, Perfide hugged her and thanked her. Putting the clothes where the package used to be he reached for the next package. This one was the smallest.

"This one" said Lars, "is from me. There are technically both of my gifts inside."

Perfide opened the small envelope. Inside he saw a two pieces of paper the first piece of paper with three words written on it, free lessons.

"I've seen how you watch me work, so I knew you were interested. Free lessons whenever you're done hunting or whatever it is you do out there." Said the smiling smith, "Now the second present you can't open until reach a level where you can't open until your fifteen years of.

"15" exclaimed Perfide, "Then why'd I get this now"

"Cause you never know when something bad is going to happen, HAHA. Heck I could die sometime next week. You just never know these things." Laughed Lars.

His laughing turned to cough's as he felt the glare that was being directed at the back of his head.

Confused he turned his head and looked at the source of the killing intent.

Seeing the confused look on his face, Margret pointed at her son and whispered, "Fix it"

Looking back at Perfide, Lars could see that Perfide now had his head bowed and was not talking. And he immediately understood what he'd done wrong.

"Wait a minute Perfide, I'm not dying yet you know. Besides it's your birthday party so no crying." Said an anxious Lars

Picking his head up, he stared at Lars for a moment then smiled and gave him nod.

Next Perfide went to the third choice, a long box.

As he saw his son reaching for his gift Mark said, "So it's my turn. Okay, these I got from my father when I turned 7 years old. After I got them he started teaching me how to use them. Go ahead open it."

Opening the box he saw two old short swords and two wooden short sword.

"My father and mother and grandfather taught me to use them. The wooden ones are just that wood shaped to practice with. But the other two are special, go ahead and pick them up. " Said mark

Perfide reached for them and tried to pick them up. But couldn't. Looking back at his father he said. "I can't pick them up their too heavy."

Mark smiled and said, "The blades decrease in density based on what the wearer wants it to be. Look on the bottom of the hilt."

Perfide unsure of what the hilt is pointed at the thicker part of the swords, where the hand goes, and looked at his father questioningly. To which he receives a nod in response. He looked on the bottom, rubbed his hand across it and felt it give in slightly. Pushing harder he heard a mechanical whir, followed by a click. At which point the hilt came apart and with ten rings already turned to what seemed to be maximum value.

Seeing that the rings were like the two inner rings of the ring that Captain Nam had given him, Perfide guessed how they worked and turned them all to the other direction. After all were set on zero the only weight left to the sword was the hilt.

His father put them into their respective sheathes and, "Said put them away for now. Two days from now when the Awakening Ceremony is done your mother will start showing you how to move with them. These are only to help you swing faster and harder, not to actually use in a battle. After your lessons with Lars here, you'll be able to make your own pair. Okay?"

Positively beaming, Perfide nodded and put them down on the table next to the envelope and clothes.

Thanking his father for the gift he then turned to the final gift. A small black box. Unwrapped and unadorned.

His mother, seeing his look, picked up the box and said, "Before I give you this, I need you to promise to never, EVER, show this to anyone. I'm not saying it to stop your fun. I only say that because if you show people this and they know what it is, they might get greedy and try to kill you to take it from you. So do you promise?"

Eyes wide open, Perfide nodded and promised.

Now having his promise, Margret allowed him to take the case. Within it he found a ring. The ring had a light flashing on its inside but looked completely plain on the outside. IT was completely black, smooth, and the moment he put it on, it perfectly fit him. When he put it on, the pulsing light was also completely blocked.

Being confused, Perfide looked at his mom and asked.

She responded saying that "This ring is one of only 1,000 that were secretly made by a scientist that died a long time ago. This scientist figured out a way to bend space and time so that he could contain them in objects. After experimenting for many years he found that material, whatever it is, to be the best container. This allows the person who owns it to be able to store whatever need inside. When he died his research died with him because he accidently blew his lab up. These rings were scattered all over the place, and pedestrians and regular people walking by picked them up. Some kept them because they looked nice, while others sold theirs for the same reason. It wasn't until years later when Spirit Force was discovered and someone who owned one poured Spirit Force into it that he discovered it's secret. When he probed it with his spirit force, he discovered that inside there was a space of 300 cubic feet. It wasn't until he needed to store something and started thinking about it disappearing did he see it disappear into his ring.

When that discovery was made public, people started killing to get them. This one is even more special and I hope no one knows about it. Because it also has the ability to store Spirit Force for later use. You never know when you'll need some more. It can also be absorbed into your skin, causing it to be completely out of sight from the prying eyes of whoever might be watching.

The only reason you can't use it is because you don't have spirit force yet. Since you can't even use it yet tomorrow before you go to take part in your Awakening, you need to find somewhere safe to hide this till you have spirit force. And even after you have Spirit Force, make sure to only use its ability to store things only when you're alone."

At this point she finally stopped and chugged a glass of water. And Perfide stood there with mouth open in shock at the importance of the items that he just received. They stayed together some more that night and when Perfide went to bed, he could only think of what a great day today is and how even greater tomorrow would be.


End file.
